Chapter 10:5.
Mede conceived that the allusion is to the practice of boring the ear in token of servitude, mentioned in Exodus 21:6; and that as that practice was unknown to the Greeks, the Seventy rendered the words in conformity with what they did as to their slaves; which was, to set a mark on the body; "Thou hast fitted (or adapted) a body for me;" that is, that I might be thy servant. That Christ assumed "the form of a servant," is expressly declared in Philippians 2:7. There is in this case an agreement as to meaning; but the difficulty is: as to the verb
These have been the two ways proposed to reconcile the passages as they now stand. There are no different readings in Hebrew, nor in the Sept., nor in this Epistle. Proposals have therefore been made as to a change in the texts on the supposition of typographical mistakes.
Some, as Grotius, Hammond, and Dr. Owen, have proposed
Others have supposed a mistake in the Hebrew text; and this conjecture has been approved by Kennicott, Doddridge, Bishop lowth, Adam Clarke, and Pye Smith. It is no objection to say that the Syr., Vulg., and the Targ., confirm the present reading; for the mistake might have been made long before any of these were in existence. Such a change might indeed have been made in the first ages of Christianity, and might have been made intentionally, through a wish to obscure the testimony of Scripture respecting Christ.
The words are supposed to have been
6. "Sacrifice and offering thou hast not delighted in, Then a body hast thou formed for me; Burntoffering and sinoffering thou hast not required,
7. Then I said, Behold, I am coming." --
There is here a consistency throughout. "Behold, I am coming," that is, in the body designed for him. And then the Apostle says, "When coming into the world, he saith," etc., clearly referring to our Saviors incarnation. And this "body" is afterwards expressly mentioned in verse 10, in opposition to sacrifices. It is true that in his argument in verse 9, he dwells on the words, "I come;" but then his coming was in the body prepared for him.